The Baba Sali

Rabbi Yisrael Abuchatzeira, the Baba Sali, sits close to the picture plane, hooded in pale blue over a white head covering. The paint is laid on with the knife in thick, directional strokes. Ridges of pigment build the deep furrows of the brow and the folds around the eyes. The gaze turns slightly aside, dark and attentive, holding the quiet of a man in constant conversation with his Creator. One hand rises to the edge of the hood, its fingers modeled in broad planes of warm ochre and rose.

Behind him the ground breaks into radiating bars of color: rose, coral, lemon, spring green, blue and white, streaming outward from the head like light through glass. The blue of the robe steadies the composition, and the burst behind it carries the sense of blessing that surrounded the tzaddik of Netivot, the baal mofes to whom all of Morocco and later all of Israel turned. Painted in 2024, the work now lives in a private collection.